GRIFFITH SLAMS SECURITY MISSTEPS

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Former National Security Minister Gary Griffith is pushing back against rising public anxiety amid growing geopolitical tensions in the region. Responding to fears that a military confrontation could spill into TT, Griffith argues that an attack on Trinidad and Tobago by Venezuela is "virtually impossible." He says any strike on this country would hand the U.S. the perfect justification to enter Venezuelan territory militarily, a risk he believes Venezuela would not take.  Nicole M Romany has the story.

Transcript

00:00Despite mounting criticisms of the Prime Minister's comments on US airstrikes targeting alleged

00:07Venezuelan drug trafficking vessels, former National Security Minister Gary Griffith

00:13insists his stance is both justified and necessary. He argues that Venezuela initiated confrontation

00:22and that the Prime Minister is not escalating tensions but defending herself and the sovereignty

00:29of Trinidad and Tobago.

00:31But she basically is standing up to a bully. Venezuela, they are bullies. Have you ever noticed

00:36the United States threaten Venezuela constantly? Maduro, these are numbered. Venezuela this,

00:41that and the other. They're not saying a word about the United States. But you're every day

00:45you're doing a release about Trinidad and Tobago. So it's like you have a little boy, a young boy

00:51and his big brother is walking through the corridor of the school and the bully is watching. The bully

00:55cannot touch the little brother because the big brother is there. That's what Venezuela they are.

00:58They are bullies. Addressing the panic and hysteria on Friday, Griffith sharply criticized the failure

01:06to inform the Prime Minister of the reported drill involving all members of the Protective Services,

01:12describing it as a serious lapse in communication and coordination. It is unacceptable that the chair

01:18of the National Security Council was not aware that all members of the Defence Force were called in.

01:23Something went wrong. There are three ways for information to be passed in real time throughout the

01:28country. Three forms of communication. Television, telephone and tell a soldier. When you tell a

01:34soldier in Trinidad and Tobago, everybody knows because it spreads. According to Griffith, nowhere in the world

01:41would such a lapse be tolerated in a nation on the brink of war, calling it madness that the Prime Minister

01:48was left uninformed. He admonishes the Homeland Security Minister emphasizing that this is no time for

01:56flippancy, theatrics or empty gestures. Instead, he says, it is a moment to exercise responsibility,

02:04communicate with clarity and address issues of national significance. Griffith warns firmly against what he

02:12describes as repeating the mistakes of previous administrations. You don't say, well, that is

02:18not true, that is rubbish, so I have no right to inform the public. Roger Alexander, you're dead wrong

02:23and it caused the country to be in panic mode. And it's not for us to continue to go on to this over

02:28and over, but it's just for you to learn from your mistakes. But for you to do a skit and to walk forward

02:32to our mic and say, our train is arriving at six o'clock and the sky is falling. You're trivializing the fact that the whole

02:38country was fearful. The country was virtually shut down and it is the same mistake we made 35 years ago.

02:44Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.

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